Manorwoodsblog exclusive: Paul Feiner responds to criticism on the WestHELP and Fortress Bible Issues

1. Paul Feiner posted the following comments on June 1st in response to my posting of 5/29 describing Bernstein's press conference statements.  This is most direct written statement I recall from Feiner addressing these issues, so once again, I believe this is "above the fold material" warranting main page posting:

   
   

   Some corrections: Insurance will cover some of the Fortress Bible damages. The town does not anticipate that the award will approach 7 million dollars. There is a damages trial and we feel we have some excellent argument that will result in significantly less damages.
   Obviously, I'm disappointed with the fact that the federal court disagreed with the town re: Fortress Bible case. The town rejected the application because the police chief/traffic consultant felt that the site for this church was not a safe location. We were attempting to be responsive to the community and to safety issues.
   The secession movement has support from Bernstein,leaders of the Edgemont Community Council but very little support from the Edgemont community --it's been talked about for decades but the last time there was a vote in the Edgemont community secession went down--big time. IT probably would be defeated again --it would result in tax hikes for Edgemont residents and service cuts for Edgemont and the rest of the town. PAUL FEINER
2. Some clarifications: The damage portion of the Fortress Bible case has not been settled. We do not believe that the town will be asked to pay anywhere close to 7 million in damages. We expect that a portion of the damages will be paid by our insurance carrier. RE: WESTHELP--the comments by Bernstein that I refused to renegotiate the contract are false. An article in the Scarsdale Inquirer a few months ago quoted Susan Tolchin, former Deputy County Executive (and a former opponent of mine) as stating that Andy Spano was considering closing down WESTHELP. Finally, we based our decision re: rejecting Fortress Bible on traffic safety considerations pointed out by our traffic consultants. I am disappointed that the Judge disagreed with the town but we still believe that the location is unsafe (obviously, we have to comply with the law since a decision has been issued, even if we disagree with it). I did not destroy any evidence. The town forwarded thousands of documents to the court--from computer searches.
   PAUL FEINER